If O’Nest, then Earnest

June 11, 2010

I have a thing for the ‘If .. then ..’- clause. The world is waiting for the Aristotle of the ‘If .. then ..’-clause. In other words: If one would be able to explain the ‘If .. then ..’-clause, then one would be able to explain what can be explained.

Does the title mean that anybody O’Nest is also an Earnest. No, it obviously doesn’t. At most it hints that, whenever you find an O’Nest, you will probably also have found an Earnest. Clearly, the order is crucial; it is not possible to read the title as whenever you find an Earnest there is a good chance that it is also an O’Nest.

To have some fun, we could say:

If Earnest’s were O’Nest’s (based on O’Nest’s being Earnest’s), then pigs could fly.

We know that pigs can’t fly, of course. We also know that being honest is an indication of being earnest (even when one’s just fooling around) whilst being earnest is no indication whatever by way of being honest. Worse: the lay of the land is such that we are daily motivated to be very earnest in getting a dishonest advantage.

On a complete different, and alltogether unrelated, note (to earn the category ‘Aphorisms’, in other words: to help you look intelligent during dinner conversations):

A dream that, if you do realize it, is just another thing realized is anybody’s nightmare.

I leave you, in the continued pursuit of a dream that can’t be realized,